Nigerian Lawmaker Killed Along Kaduna-Zaria Highway

Reports trending in the news around Nigeria suggest that terrorists had on Wednesday killed Rilwanu Gadagu, a lawmaker at the Kaduna state House of Assembly.

The lawmaker went missing on Monday night after he was abducted by armed terrorists

Honorable Gadagu who until his reported death represented Giwa West is also the Chairman House Commitee on Local Governments and Rural Development.

Yusuf Zailani, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, had confirmed the sad death of the young lawmaker to Channels TV.

Sources familiar with the incident that led to the death of Hon. Gadagu said Zailani said in a statement that Gadagau was initially abducted by a gang of terrorists when he was traveling.

He was said to have been waylaid at Dindin Rauga, a village along Kaduna-Zaria road on Monday night.

Sources said other passengers, of unconfirmed number, who were traveling in others vehicles were also attacked.

Reporting the same incident, HumAngle said “The attackers stormed the Kofar Gayan town along the road around 8:00 p.m. and began shooting sporadically”.

HumAngle quoted a source who said the murdered lawmaker had a last phone conversation with a colleague, Shehu Yunusa, who represents Kubau Constituency, moments before the attack.

“They were on the phone with his colleague Shehu Yunusa on that fateful night, telling his colleague that he was informed about a kidnapping incident taking place ahead of them,” HumAngle quoted the source.

“He was contemplating on either returning to Kaduna or proceeding to Zaria when he abruptly took an excuse and hung the phone.”

“His phone remains switched off since Monday night. His body was found in the bush this morning.”

The State of insecurity in Nigeria had reached an unprecedented high in with life expectancy of people especially public officials and well to do citizens reduced to 24 hours.

The state of safety in Nigeria has become so fragile that criminal gangs can now execute crimes and walk away without looking over their shoulders because no security operatives would go after them.

Beacon Intel, a security consultancy firm in Abuja Nigeria published a report at 400 Nigerians died in violent conflicts while 363 others were abducted by gunmen in November 2021 alone.